We go way back to being in the same undergraduate college in Mumbai where we basically knew of each other's existence but not enough to take much notice of each other. We were acquaintances at best. Little did we know what fate had in store for us!

Fast forward to 6 years after college. It was 2019, and Dhaval and I were working in the same city in California. We did not have any kind of contact over the years. One day, I and my bestie Sneha, with the thought of doing something fun, decided to go to a party hosted by Jignesh, our common friend from undergraduate college. I knew almost no one at the party since the crowd was mostly Jignesh's graduate college friends from NCSU. I remembered Jignesh and Dhaval were roommates in NCSU and Dhaval would be at the party too. I felt a little better knowing that I would have 1 familiar face at the party apart from Jignesh. At the party, we met after a long time but it still felt quite natural talking to each other. The party was fun and I had a great time mixing around with people. I felt especially good after reconnecting with Dhaval, someone I knew from a long time ago.

After the party, Neha and I started casually chatting. We felt at ease, conversing with each other and gradually the chats became more frequent and longer. During one of our conversations, Neha invited me home for dinner. She thought nothing much of it since she usually cooks at home but, I really liked this gesture. We had a lot of fun at home just hanging out at home after dinner. This became a weekly ritual and we started getting even closer as friends. Around a month after the party, we decided to go out for dinner and even though she does not a call it a date, it was when we really connected and things started happening for us. Not sure when we really fell for each other, but this was the start of our relationship!

A year after our first date, Dhaval proposed to me in the most romantic way! Since we were in the midst of a pandemic, we had hardly gone out during that time. He led me into believing that we have a party coming up at a friend’s place for which we are all supposed to dress up. Since we didn’t have many occasions to dress up for recently, he made me believe that we should go to the party looking our best. As soon as we reached the location, he got out of the car and blindfolded me. I was taken by surprise, not knowing what to make of it. He held my hand and led me to the spot where he had everything set up. He removed my blindfold and there it was! He had a gazebo decorated with lights and balloons, a picturesque lake in the background and the words ‘Marry Me’ propped up right in front of me. All our friends were dressed up and were waiting at the side in anticipation. He went down on his knee and his proposal was the sweetest thing ever. I said yes! (not that there was any other answer I would give) and the rest is history!